Tag: pregnancy isn’t easy

I swear, I didn’t set out to become some sort of pregnant celebrity defender (see me sticking up for Jessica Simpson here). It’s just, I guess the reactions to these celebrity pregnancies are so magnified and also represent so much crap regular, every day pregnant women face that just awakes the angry hormones in me.

Kim Kardashian is pregnant. 12ish weeks, I think. Yes, it’s Kanye’s baby. Yes, she’s still married to that other guy. Yes, there are a million jokes that can be made, and so many reasons why people legitimately don’t like her, and that’s fine. I don’t really care one way or the other for her. I don’t have cable and miss out on much of her life. I’m cool with that.

But she said something on Entertainment Tonight recently that suddenly has droves of People of the Internet, mostly women on Facebook and websites like Jezebel, up in arms.

What dumb thing did she say about her pregnancy already? Was it that she only plans to feed the baby from a gold-plated breast of a wet-nurse she’s importing from Prague? Or perhaps that she plans to gestate in a pool of champagne while being fed everything she craves via a feeding tube that carefully manages her caloric intake so as not to put on any weight?

Uhm, no. Here’s what she said:

“I haven’t (had morning sickness yet). I wouldn’t say it’s been easy… but no morning sickness… When people say pregnancy is, like, fun and they love it, I would have to disagree… I think from this stage on it does become easier and funner, but, you know, it’s adjusting, and I think that so many times my sister has made it look so easy, and it’s not as easy as people think. It’s… a little painful, there’s a lot of growing pains…. but I heard it’s all worth it, so I’m looking forward to that.”

THE. HORROR. Let’s all collectively gasp at a pregnant woman who says that pregnancy isn’t easy.

Oh wait, but she didn’t have morning sickness so she couldn’t have possibly have had it as bad as every woman who did, right? So therefore she has no right to complain. Because only the person with the very worst situation ever on the planet ever has the “right” to complain. Everyone else who has it easier than them needs to shut up. Isn’t that how it goes?

Can we knock that shit off? The just-you-waits and the you-don’t-know-hard, the quit-your-complainings and the you-have-it-easys.

That statement she made? Totally relatable. I’m betting MANY of us could have said the same thing. We’re not all slung over the side of a toilet all of pregnancy (and my heart truly goes out to those of you who are), but that doesn’t mean pregnancy can’t be hard in a million other ways.

The growing pains? That’s real, and annoying, and uncomfortable. The adjustments? There are many, not the least of which are the emotional adjustments, which can be some of the worst of it.

Had she said pregnancy was a total breeze so far, OF COURSE, that would upset the masses, too. Because there’s no winning. She would be raked over the coals for getting away with an “easy” pregnancy because she has so much money and help, and she’ll never know what it’s like for the rest of us.

So take Kim Kardashian out of the picture, and let’s just talk about a woman who is pregnant. Any woman.

It’s okay to feel like pregnancy is not easy. It’s okay to feel like it’s not a mythical fairytale, where you sing to your growing belly every day while rubbing cocoa butter on it. EVEN IF you’re not puking your guts out. EVEN IF your cousin had it so much worse.

Conversely, it’s okay to feel like pregnancy is a breeze.

It’s okay to feel however you want about pregnancy when you’re pregnant, and women need to stop making other women feel any differently.

If you want to rip on Kim K. for her lifestyle choices, or her wardrobe stylings, or those hours you wasted on her E! Wedding Specials last year, take your pick. But this? I mean, seriously? Kim K. doesn’t think pregnancy is fun, AND THAT IS OKAY.